The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

Who will start the next generation of small businesses in Britain? The answer, more often than not, is people who aren’t even living in the country right now. A fascinating new report from the Centre for Entrepreneurs, an independent think tank, suggests migrants who have come to Britain are far more likely to set up their own businesses and create jobs than British citizens themselves.

So much so that one in seven companies already in existence in the UK was originally founded by a migrant entrepreneur, the think tank says. It describes the contribution made by these businesses to the country’s economy as “breathtaking”.

Just over one in 10 people born in Britain (10.4%) start a business in the country, the think tank says. By contrast, the figure for migrants coming to the country is above one in six (17.2%). These ventures create vast numbers of jobs, both for people already living in Britain and those joining them – 14% of all British employment is created by companies founded by migrant entrepreneurs now living in the UK, the Centre for Entrepreneurs calculates.

Given these compelling figures, one might think Britain is desperate to attract more people from overseas to its shores. In which case, one would be wrong – at least judging by the daft rhetoric of junior Home Office minister James Brokenshire, who has just taken on Governmental responsibilities for immigration affairs.

In his first speech since getting the job, Brokenshire warned that while immigration did wonders for a “wealthy metropolitan elite” who jumped at the chance to hire cheap nannies, plumbers and other tradesmen, this was to the detriment of ordinary working Britons who faced downwards pressure on wages, upwards pressure on house prices and a range of other social issues because of the influx.

It’s fair to say the speech hasn’t gone down entirely well. For one thing, Brokenshire’s boss, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron is known to have hired Australian and Nepalese nannies for his children in the past, which is a little embarrassing. More seriously, Brokenshire’s critics warn that the last thing he should be doing, if he wants to do more for ordinary working Britons, is sending the wrong message to those who might come here and create jobs for them.

Those critics are right. We talk about the globalised economy, but one crucial part of that story is often overlooked. It is not only the marketplace for goods and services that is global, but for labour too. Countries all around the world – but particularly in the West, where populations are ageing and dependency ratios are deteriorating – are competing for labour.

Nor, as it is regularly assumed, is this competition only for highly-skilled labour. Certainly, countries are on the look-out for highly talented individuals with special skills – particularly for the sort of high-tech industries that Western governments like to see as the future of their economies. But they also need less skilled workers, because local populations are often reluctant to do low-paid jobs.

Moreover, as the Centre for Entrepreneurs report highlights very clearly, the battle is on to attract the entrepreneurs – the migrants who in showing their willingness to start life afresh in a new country are demonstrating exactly the sort of readiness for risk-taking that marks out many small business founders.

All in all, Mr Brokenshire has put his foot in his mouth. It might be easy politics to play to the fears of Britons who fear that migrants are flooding the country’s labour markets. But all the evidence suggests that migrants make jobs rather than taking them.